In the past, multi-lane container packaging machines have been used for packaging such products as individual portion sized condiments, creamers and other dairy products. Because of the small size of these containers, the products are usually packaged in bulk with perhaps 100 or 200 individual containers to a package or of a size specified by the end purchaser. These products have rapidly increased in consumer acceptance and therefore, the volume produced in a given year has greatly increased. To keep pace with this rapid growth, slightly larger capacity multi-lane packaging units have replaced older units. However, when the number of lanes of these packing machines does not evenly divide into the number of products to be bulk packaged, difficulties arise. The obvious answer to this dilemma is to provide a counting mechanism downstream of the output of the packaging machine to accurately control the loading of the product. However, difficulties are encountered due to the container's small size, the requirement for the container to be properly oriented to be processed through a counter as well as the increased floor space, such a mechanism would require.
The present invention seeks to mitigate these problems by providing a simple apparatus which can be secured downstream of the packaging machine which does not require accurate orientation of the product output and utilizes the precise control of the parallel output of the packaging machine to determine when an appropriate number of containers have been deposited in a carton.
The spread of these individual container packaging machines and particularly when the machine is designed to fill creamers, is quite fast with one lane of the conveyor producing approximately 100 creamers per minute. As can be appreciated, this rapid flow of product creates additional problems in designing a simple system which allows packaging of any number of containers in bulk independent of the parallel output of the container packaging machine.